


Waves

by AcrobatElle



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:44:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5253881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcrobatElle/pseuds/AcrobatElle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The ocean calms him. Set immediately post 5x08.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waves

She finds him standing on the shore facing the sea, the breeze ruffling his hair and swirling around the bottom of his robe. He stands deathly still, nearly swallowed by the clothing but she can still see the tension in his posture, waiting for it to crack, waiting for him to turn on her, waiting for something, _anything_.

He doesn’t budge. She stands there behind him for several minutes, unmoving herself, listening to the waves lapping at the shore.

Finally, she tries. “Killian – “

“Shh.” It’s not even a word but it’s still the harshest thing he’s ever said to her.

She swallows down her guilt, her relief (oh god he’s still alive and standing right here still  _alive_ ) and waits, watching as the sun slowly slips down the horizon.

Just when she can’t stand the silence anymore (he was always more patient than she) he speaks, his voice ragged, an octave lower than normal. “The ocean calms me.”

She opens her mouth but promptly clamps it shut, tamping down the dark, selfish need to  _know_. She has no business asking anything of him, not like this.

“And that’s something I’m very much in need of right now.”

He turns his head, slowly and deliberately, and when he finally looks at her she has to bite back her gasp. His eyes are nearly black, his face even more pained than when he was dying in her arms. If he’s surprised by her new attire, he doesn’t show it.

“You need to go, Emma. Before I – before I do something.”

“Killian, we can – “

“Emma,” he snarls, and suddenly she feels the full weight of the power behind him, the breath knocked out of her by the force of it. He’s not even using magic but the buzz of it crackles around her, embers on the fire of the horizon. “You need to go.  _Now_.”

She bites her lip but doesn’t argue, not when he looks like this, more terrifying than she’s ever seen him. She puffs away in a cloud of black smoke that never quite dissipates, hanging low and heavy on the shore.

He turns back to the sea and forces himself to focus on the rhythm of the waves, synchronizing his breathing to them, desperately trying to still the shaking of his hand.


End file.
